Speaking during the 4G World conference in Chicago on Tuesday, Sprint’s vice president of network development and engineering Iyad Tarazi confirmed that Sprint will begin to roll-out a 4G LTE-Advanced network in its 800MHz frequency spectrum by the middle of 2013. LTE-Advanced offers faster data throughput than the first generation of LTE, among other enhancements, and Tarazi explained that Sprint’s LTE-Advanced network should offer download speeds between 12-15Mbps. During its Strategy Update meeting in October, Sprint confirmed that it will begin to roll out its first 4G LTE network in mid-2012 with completion scheduled by the end of 2013. The initial LTE network will be deployed on Sprint’s 1900Mhz frequency spectrum and the first round of LTE devices will still route voice calls over its CDMA network. The first voice-over-LTE devices will arrive during the first quarter of 2013, Fierce Wireless said. Tarazi also noted that Sprint will offer at least a dozen LTE devices next year. More →

BlackBerry fans on Bell won’t have to wait long for a new Torch, Bold, or Curve. TechFIBE picked up some leaked documentation that suggests the carrier will sell the new phones — which we leaked in April — in just a few months. Specifically, Bell will launch the BlackBerry Torch 9810, BlackBerry Bold 9900, and the full-touchscreen BlackBerry Torch 9860 in late August, followed by the BlackBerry Curve 9360 launch in September. BGR reported this past May that the Monaco 9850 and Monza 9860 could launch under a new “Volt” banner or the BlackBerry Torch brand, and according to this document it looks like RIM may have gone with the latter. Bell also confirms what we already knew: that the Torch 9810, Bold 9900, and Torch 9860 will all offer 1.2GHz processors, while the Curve 9360 will be powered by a slower 800MHz chip. More →

When Palm first introduced webOS in January 2009 and subsequently launched the Palm Pre, I called the innovative operating system the best thing to happen to smartphones that year. To this day, webOS holds a special place in my heart for taking a novel approach to smartphone operating systems and making it beautiful. It was refreshing, it was capable, and it was not received at all well by consumers. But webOS’ problem was never the software. Perhaps the lack of available apps has been a bit of a hindrance, but I view Palm’s release strategy, its horrible marketing strategy and its sub par hardware as having played the biggest roles in preventing webOS from finding stardom. In terms of hardware, I had high hopes when HP announced it was buying Palm; webOS might finally have a vessel worthy of consumers’ attention. Discounting the Pre 2, which should never have been allowed to ship, the Veer is HP’s first webOS smartphone to reach store shelves. The phone is undoubtedly unique and it features the latest version of the Palm team’s software platform, but is it the vessel webOS needs so desperately? Hit the break for my review of the HP Veer 4G — or, as I have come to call it, the Palmagotchi.

Blog PocketNow has acquired an image of what is presumed to be AT&T’s variant of the LG Optimus One. The popular, mid-level device — which sports a 3.2-inch touchscreen display, 800MHz processor, and largely unmolested version of Android 2.2. — is available on a half-dozen regional and national U.S. carriers. We would expect the device to be released under the moniker Optimus A — as is customary: Optimus + first letter of carrier name — but with AT&T, you never really know. If you read our report from earlier this morning, you’ll know that Android handsets costing under $150 are projected to be big business in 2011. More →

According to site xda.cn, HTC will launch the above handset — the HTC Ignite — in mid-2011, complete with Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system. The blog has a mixed record when it comes to predicting future hardware, but has acquired accurate, HTC-based information in the past. The listed specs include an 800MHz Qualcomm processor, 3.7-inch resistive touchscreen display, 512MB of RAM, and 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash. Something is — obviously — not right here, as 800MHz processors and resistive touchscreens have been strictly forbade by Microsoft’s Windows phone Chassis standards (also: we’re not sure HTC makes a phone, of any kind, with a resistive touchscreen). It’s extremely speculative, but an attractive looking handset nonetheless. Let’s hope that this one does indeed make its way to market with a different rap sheet. More →

That BlackBerry 8520 feeling a bit outdated? Well, we might have just what you’ve been waiting for — the next generation BlackBerry Curve. Codenamed “Apollo,” the new BlackBerry Curve finally brings up the lower-mid end of the BlackBerry lineup with very reasonable (and decent) specs for what will be an aggressively priced handset line. A 480 x 360 screen joins a 5-megapixel camera, quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and a tri-band HSPA 7.2Mbps radio, and even NFC capability. Hit the break for the full run down, alright? More →

T-Mobile just hooked us up with a brand new T-Mobile G2, and we of course wanted to share some first impressions and photos with you. When you pick up the phone for the first time, it feels a bit heavy, but it’s a quality feeling of heavy and not something that you’re really going to care much about. The screen looks great, and being a Super LCD, it’s a little better than a normal LCD and a little worse in some ways than a Super AMOLED display. At 3.7″ we feel it’s the perfect size for maximum usability. Let’s flip to the keyboard… interesting. The hinge mechanism is pretty cool, basically it just springs into action and reveals a pretty spacious QWERTY keyboard. It’s clicky enough, and reminds us a little of the Touch Pro2, for better or worse. The device runs a 800MHz Snapdragon CPU, and while the clock speed is slower than the 1GHz and soon-to-launch 1.2GHz chips powering Android handsets, T-Mobile tells us that the chip is the first off of the new Snapdragon chip line up and it should be able to go head to head with the higher clocked devices. From our limited time using the device, we’d agree but we will follow up on that in our expansive review. For now, hit the gallery for all the sexy photos, and make sure you drop whatever questions you may have in the comments so we can try and answer them in our review!

Samsung doesn’t have much in the way of sneak peeks at CES, but we did manage to catch a glimpse of two international handsets. First is the Omnia Pro or Samsung B7610. The Omnia Pro doesn’t look too much like its cousin, the Omnia II, and it features a slide out QWERTY keyboard. It’s also a Windows 6.5 device that has a front-facing camera for video chat. Unfortunately, the only carrier in the U.S. that supports video chat of any kind is AT&T and it’s only one-way video chatting. We’re also looking at a 5 megapixel camera, 800MHz processor, Wi-Fi, A-GPS, push email support and a 3.5″ AMOLED WVGA display. Click on through for the Jet and for the rest of the flicks in our gallery.

Asus announced on Friday the P565, a Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional extraordinaire that comes with a blazing 800 MHz processor and a 2.8″ VGA touchscreen display. The black, leather-backed handset is targeted for the business folk and features its own Glide UI that is optimized for the touchscreen device. It also packs the SIRF Star III GPS chipset that is found on most stand alone GPS devices. The rest of the specs for the new Asus P565 are pretty standard for a smartphone:

HSDPA 3.6Mbps, UMTS 2100, EDGE/GPRS/GSM 900/1800/1900, Class 10

Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional

2.8″ TFT, 65K-color Touchscreen, VGA (480 x 640 pixels) Display

Marvell TavorP 800 MHz Processor

256 MB Flash + 128 MB DDR SDRAM

MicroSD with SDHC support

WLAN 802.11b+g

Bluetooth 2.0+EDR

GPS : SiRF Star III with InstantFix

WAP Browser / SMS / MMS / Email / MSN / Push E-mail

Battery : 1300 mAh Li-Ion

Standby Time : 250-300 hrs with 3G and 200-250 hrs with 2G

Talk Time : 3 hrs with 3G and 4 hrs with 2G

Dimensions : 102 mm x 60.5 mm x 16 mm

No pricing or release date but with the phone missing the US 850MHz band and the US 3G bands, we wouldn’t expect to see it come stateside in its current form. Nonetheless, we applaud Asus for upping the ante and releasing the world’s fastest handset with a high resolution screen and a stylish form factor.